Help please - Stroke Message Board

riley07 · 12-07-2006, 10:16 PM

last Friday night (dec 1st) my grandma was standing in the living room and her hand went numb and she couldn't talk when trying.

I called 911 and they took her to the hospital. The paramedic said her blood pressure was high and she has irregular heart beat and in the end recognized it as a TIA. we were able to leave and take her home within I'd say 20-30 mins of being at the hospital. we saw a doctor the following monday and now she is on meds to control her blood pressure.

but ever since friday night, she hasn't been speaking properly. through out the day she can speak fine.. but I notice at night, she has trouble with pronouncing some words and one side of her mouth is crooked.

I'm just wondering if somebody can tell me what's up? should something be done immediately or can I wait until next thursday when she has her blood pressure check up to tell the doc?

I haven't had much sleep in the past week because I've been so stressed out and I just want everything to be okay. I put on a happy face during the day, but at night I'm just a paranoid wreck and I need some relief. Please help

lgf91 · 12-08-2006, 09:45 PM

Hi Riley: I'm sorry about your grandmother. I had a TIA in May which did not show on the CT and they didn't think it was an TIA and they sent me home. Later in May I had a small stroke (that didn't even show on the MRI); they kept me at the hospital, put me on aspirin and sent to in-house re-hab. Well I had a massive brain stem stroke while there which did show on the MRI and I ended up almost dying...was in intensive care paralyzed and am now doing pretty well, by the grace of God, after 5-1/2 months of rehab, altho' I still walk with a walker and my speech still needs improvement. I strongly suggest taking your grandmother to a GOOD neurologist and consider a blood thinner if she can take one. Re-hab in the way of speech therapy should be prescribed plus physical therapy if needed. As an advocate for her, you can help her from having a bad stroke and get her life back 100% and stop your worrying. But, with me, I guess there was nothing that would have stopped the 2nd stroke so nobody is to blame. I still really like my doctor. I guess I am suppossed to be some type of an example like Kate in her book "Kate's Journey". Good luck and God bless you. Leah